Comprehensive Plan for Waldorf-Astoria Renovation Approved

Plan would see some small additions, cleaning and restoration of facades, a new residential entrance, re-opening of historic interiors, and replacement of unsympathetic later elements. On April 25, 2017, Landmarks considered and approved applications to renovate the exterior and interior of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The 1931 Art Deco hotel’s exterior was landmarked in 1993, and continuous interiors on the first three levels were designated earlier in 2017. … <Read More>


Airbnb Opposition Makes for Strange Bedfellows

There are some things you can always count on here in New York: alternate side of the street parking, the subways always running (except when they’re not, like late nights and weekends), the Yankees making the playoffs (except when the Mets do) and landlords and tenants being diametrically opposed. Like Superman and Kryptonite, oil and water, landlords and tenants have always had one thing in common – a mutual distrust of one another.

That is … <Read More>


Legislation Proposed in NY State Assembly Would Put an End to Online Advertising of Illegal Short-Term Apartment Rentals

Elected officials and affordable housing activists unite at State capitol in support of the legislation.  On February 24, 2016, 300 members and supporters of the Share Better coalition rallied at the State capitol in support of Assembly Bill A08704, which would ban most online listings advertising rental apartments for less than thirty days per renter. Bill A08704 was proposed to the State Assembly approximately one month after a report was released to the public that … <Read More>


BSA Approves Ohel Chabad Lubavitch Variances Over Community Opposition

BSA approval contingent upon several conditions, and restrictions of the hours of operation and access to gravesites. The Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch owns the property at 226-10 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Queens adjacent to the Montefiore Cemetery where the Lubavitch spiritual leader Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson and his predecessor Rebbe Yosef J. Schneerson are buried. Daily visitors numbering in the several hundreds use the property to access the graves of the Lubavitch leaders.  In 1994 … <Read More>


New York City’s Parking Odyssey: A Play in Several Acts

Traffic congestion in 2013 stems in large part from how the City has allocated street space among motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, CitiBike stations, pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages. While changes to address street space allocations can be anticipated, the logic and purpose of the allocations have changed over time.

Act I – Suffocation on the Streets

Facing public streets “choked” with cars, the City in 1950 amended the 1916 Zoning Resolution to require developers of residential buildings … <Read More>


[Update] Two Hotels in Midtown Designated as Individual Landmarks

Turn-of-the-century residential hotels, which served rising professional class, among City’s newest landmarks. On June 12, 2012, Landmarks voted to designate two Midtown hotels constructed in the early 20th century as individual landmarks. The Beaux-Arts Hotel Mansfield is located at 12 West 44th Street, and the Renaissance Revival Martha Washington Hotel is located at 30 East 30th Street.

The 12-story Hotel Mansfield is on the same block as several other individual landmarks, including … <Read More>